The People's Prince or Self-Promoting Phony?

March 26, 2008 — -- Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the most princely actor of all?

Orlando Bloom? Jonathan Rhys Meyers? Brad Pitt? No. If you believe a supposed "market research analysis" of 17 million movie-goers, it's David Zandi.

David who?

David Zandi is a 29-year-old Iranian-born Los Angeles transplant who claims to be a descendent of distant Persian royalty, works in movie production and has a handful of onscreen credits -- most notably, he played an alien in "Men in Black II."

By conventional standards, he lacks the box office punch and experience to star in Disney's upcoming "Prince of Persia: Sands of Time," an action adventure movie based on the ultra-popular video game.

But Zandi claims acting experience isn't necessary for him if he's chosen for the part.

"I'm very logical for this part because of the way that I was raised as a child, his personality, his mannerisms. It's something I could easily pull off," he told ABCNEWS.com. "It would be like playing myself. It would be an opportunity to play myself because of my ancestry."

According to an official-looking poll obtained by movie news service IESB.net, Zandi is the peoples' choice to play the lead role in "Prince of Persia." Asked which of nine actors they would pick to play the prince based on their photos, close to 12 million of the 17 million voters chose Zandi, who with his dark hair and brooding eyes could be the digital hero's twin.

If the poll is to be believed, Zandi crushed the competition, blowing away hunks like Bloom, James McAvoy, Milo Ventimiglia and Zac Efron.